Container shipping

I doubt this is a "new thread", but what info I found was 4 or 5 years old. With contacts made through this site, we bought a home here in March. So far, I just love our new life. The question is the costs and problems with shipping in a container of our "stuff" from Boston. We are not going to be fulltime residents (yet). We were hoping to ship in a vehicle and furnishings (art work, tools, furniture etc). As a property owner, but non-resident, do we pay duty on everything? The car alone would cost about $2500 from Miami. As a used car, is it then subject to duty as well? It appears a whole container can be shipped for about $5K, so my thought is, we may as well go that way and fill it up.
Anyone have the real info on the government hassles here? Thanks so much! Earl

Just my 2 cents worth. If you are non-resident you have to pay import duty and taxes on everything in the container. Be sure it all looks used and receipts or value statements for all the stuff. . . . You will also need proof of car owner ship for at least 6 months and insurance for a least the past year.

I doubt this is a "new thread", but what info I found was 4 or 5 years old. With contacts made through this site, we bought a home here in March. So far, I just love our new life. The question is the costs and problems with shipping in a container of our "stuff" from Boston. We are not going to be fulltime residents (yet). We were hoping to ship in a vehicle and furnishings (art work, tools, furniture etc). As a property owner, but non-resident, do we pay duty on everything? The car alone would cost about $2500 from Miami. As a used car, is it then subject to duty as well? It appears a whole container can be shipped for about $5K, so my thought is, we may as well go that way and fill it up.
Anyone have the real info on the government hassles here? Thanks so much! Earl

All non-residents are required to pay duty. On a car, Aruban Customs may set a value other than what you paid for it used. Personally, after looking at the cost difference between a 40' full container and a 20' container to ship, and the cost of cars on the Island, I elected to not ship a car but to buy one here. It did work out cheaper. Even though all of our "stuff" was used we did have to pay duty.

My advice to you is to get a really good agent to handle clearance here in Aruba. We did not have any Govt hassles. It seems if your container is packed by a professional shipping company and all the manifests are prepared by them, then clearance here is pretty smooth.

welcome to the forum whiteangel......john aka aquaman always has good advice.

Originally Posted by whiteangel

I doubt this is a "new thread", but what info I found was 4 or 5 years old. With contacts made through this site, we bought a home here in March. So far, I just love our new life. The question is the costs and problems with shipping in a container of our "stuff" from Boston. We are not going to be fulltime residents (yet). We were hoping to ship in a vehicle and furnishings (art work, tools, furniture etc). As a property owner, but non-resident, do we pay duty on everything? The car alone would cost about $2500 from Miami. As a used car, is it then subject to duty as well? It appears a whole container can be shipped for about $5K, so my thought is, we may as well go that way and fill it up.
Anyone have the real info on the government hassles here? Thanks so much! Earl

Thank You all for the advice. I've been going back and forth on the car issue for sometime now. It seems hard to find a decent used vehicle that isn't beaten to death for around $4-5K US. I am a car guy too; and the mini stuff here is pretty uninspiring. Looked at an Avis retired KIA the other day. $10k florin and worth about $500 at home. Furniture isn't really an issue.
How about shipping framed art? Any good advice on a trustworthy handler? Thanks again.

Thank You all for the advice. I've been going back and forth on the car issue for sometime now. It seems hard to find a decent used vehicle that isn't beaten to death for around $4-5K US. I am a car guy too; and the mini stuff here is pretty uninspiring. Looked at an Avis retired KIA the other day. $10k florin and worth about $500 at home. Furniture isn't really an issue.
How about shipping framed art? Any good advice on a trustworthy handler? Thanks again.

Our art....sculptures and paintings ( both oil and water colours) were professionally packed by the company who arranged the loading and shipping of the container. At the Aruba end they had no idea as to value and passed it at a nominal rate